Board game for building words with single-letter and multiple-letter tiles on a plurality of multi-directional pathways

ABSTRACT

The invention is a word-building board game played on a double-sided board whose grid on both sides comprises horizontal and vertical rows of circles overlaid with smaller circles. Using single-letter and multiple-letter tiles, words are built on a plurality of multi-directional pathways, a number of which are imbedded on one side of the board. Coloured overlays highlight words other than those built orthogonally. Instructional pieces direct players in certain initiatives, including the execution of the ‘Ploy Move’ which allows a word to be built away from the main body of words. Letters on multiple-letter tiles are expressed obliquely in a downward direction. The multi-dimensional pathways and ‘Ploy Pieces’ have the effect of increasing the scope and enhancing the concept of the crossword format that derives from building.words orthogonally.

The Applicant for US Non Provisional patent claims the benefit ofProvisional Patent Application No. 60/963,502, Filing Date Aug. 6, 2007,entitled:—An improved word building game that provides a board with agrid and a plurality of both single-letter tiles and multiple-lettertiles carrying word fragments for building words orthogonally and on‘special’ pathways which are differentiated by means of clear, colouredoverlays.”

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTINGCOMPACT DISC APPENDIX

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SEQUENCE LISTING

Not applicable

The invention is in the field of board games and, in particular, itrelates to an improved word-building game which provides a variety ofpathways for word-building with single-letter tiles and multiple-lettertiles, said variety of pathways being afforded by, in combination, theletter tiles, the instructional pieces and the grid on the board. Thisgame improves on Australian Patent Number 622034 (commencing Jun. 25,1990) the inventor being myself, Marilyn Fay Quinlan.

The first difference between the two is that whereas the previousinvention was played without a board and the spread of words wasasymmetrical, the new game offered herein is played on a double-sidedboard, both sides comprising a grid one of which is imbedded with avariety of ‘Special Pathways’

Second, whereas the previous invention employed a plurality of playingpieces, both single-letter and multiple-letter, their design was quitedifferent from that of the playing pieces of the game herein described,said previous playing pieces featuring letter-bearing portions separatedby one or more ‘links’.

Third, in the previous invention each multiple-letter combination wasexpressed along a horizontal axis of a tile whereas in the game hereindescribed said multiple-letter clusters are positioned obliquely on theletter-carrying portions of playing pieces and are therefore appropriatefor use in words built horizontally and vertically.

Fourth, my previous invention did not include instructional pieces andstrategic tools whereas the game herein includes ‘Ploy’ pieces whichinstruct players to exercise specific actions IN ADDITION TO a varietyof ‘Special Pathways’ which allow players to strategise in order tobypass obstacles and to reach high-scoring letter spaces, high-scoringword areas and other parts of the board

Fifth, my previous game did not include the novel strategic move calleda ‘Ploy Move’ which permits a player to build a ‘Ploy Word’ at adistance from the main body of built words.

BACKGROUND

The game herein described addresses difficulties encountered by previousword game inventors in both the application of word fragments and theuse of diagonals in word building.

The main difficulty to date has been the application of word fragmentsto orthogonal word-building. One solution has been to create games inwhich words are built only horizontally thus avoiding the difficulty inreading a fragment when it is common to two words, one horizontal andone vertical.

Another approach to word fragments has been to locate them on longertiles of a length equivalent to that of the total number of singleletters of which the fragment is composed. However, when this occurs,the fragment loses its integrity in play, as further word building isonto or off its single letters, not onto or off the entity that is thefragment. In this way, letters of the fragment merge visually with othersingle-letter tiles on the board.

The problem caused by the incorporation of diagonals in word-buildinggames is that the frequently resulting adjacent letter tiles renderreading of the board difficult, especially because the said adjacenttiles frequently do not form words with the letters of the diagonalwords.

Additionally, other than the provision of blank tiles for blocking anopponent, there have been provided few strategic tools which facilitateword building for players blocked by one or more tiles and thereforeprevented from reaching high-scoring spaces and areas of the board.

1. The game of Jose de Caldas de Matos Amorin FR 940630 1948 includesword fragments the letters of which are located on tiles of lengthsequivalent to the single letters that form the fragments. The fragmentsare provided in both horizontal and vertical formats. It is noted thatonce the fragment is on the board as part of a word, subsequent wordsare built only onto the single letters of which it is comprised; thefragment no longer exists as an entity and so its integrity is lost.

2. The game of H. Moss U.S. Pat. No. 3,140,876 1964 also includes wordfragments the letters of which are located on playing pieces of lengthsequivalent to the single letters that comprise the fragments. In thisinvention however, the fragment is displayed in both its horizontal andvertical formats on different sides of the same playing piece. Aswith 1. above, the fragments do not retain their integrity as entitiesonce on the board.

3. The game of Weinreb GB 2 117155A 1983 incorporates multiple-lettertiles and single-letter tiles. Multiple letters on a tile are expressedhorizontally according to the protocol of written English.

4. The game of Trilling U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,548 1977 incorporates wordfragments expressed horizontally on multiple-letter tiles but in a gamewhich is not of the crossword type format, and in which said game, wordsare only built horizontally.

5. My previous invention, Marilyn Quinlan Australian Patent Number622034 June, 1990 included playing pieces carrying multiple-letterfragments and was played without a board. Words could only be builthorizontally.

6. The game of Schroeder U.S. Pat. No. 6,422,561 2002 incorporatessingle-letter tiles and word fragments which are expressed horizontally.The differently configured playing pieces are assigned patterns fortheir moves on the board which incorporates various lettered spaces.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Objectives

1. The principle objective is to provide a word building game thatprovides a means by which word fragments on multiple-letter tiles can beapplied multi-directionally, but can still be easily read.

2. Another objective is to enable players to build words, especiallylong words, with fewer tiles than would be required if tiles carried asingle letter only.

3. Another objective is to provide a word building game wherein eachword fragment on a multiple-letter tile remains an entity, retaining itsintegrity in terms of spelling and/or meaning and therefore contributingto the enhanced educational value of the word building game.

4. Another objective is to provide opportunities for a variety ofpathways for word building in addition to the traditional horizontal andvertical rows.

5. Related to (4.) another objective is to provide strategic tools bymeans of which players can increase their scores.

6. Also related to 4, this objective seeks to address the problem thatoften arises when a word is built diagonally, resulting in at least oneof its tiles being adjacent to one or more tiles in nearby words, makingit difficult to visually isolate the new word and therefore at timesmaking somewhat difficult the reading of the board as a whole.

7. Another objective is to provide a board which is divided into sectorsto facilitate the orderly dismantling of some words should the boardbecome cluttered and to provide a means by which players can easily playindividual or team games.

8. A major objective is to provide a word building game which caters fordifferent levels of ability and includes options for fun and lightentertainment.

9. An overriding objective is to provide a word building game whichembodies a sufficiency of word fragments related to spelling andmeaning, a sufficiency of pathways and a sufficiency of fun elements sothat the game could be produced in multiple separate game packages or asa series.

10. A final objective is to provide a game which is appropriate for anumber of different language versions.

SUMMARY OF THE GAME

The invention is a board game for building words using circular tilesalong various multi-directional pathways on a double-sided board.Building words backwards is optional.

Single-letter tiles and multiple-letter tiles are provided, the latterbeing colour coded to denote different levels of difficulty

Multiple-letters on tiles are fragments of words; each fragment isreferred to as a ‘Multi’ and its tile as a ‘Multi Tile’.

Each ‘Multi’ is expressed obliquely, from left to right, in a downwarddiagonal direction.

The board carries a grid on both sides, said grid derived, in thepreferred version, from horizontal and vertical rows of circles overlaidwith smaller circles as in FIG. ‘Special Pathways’ are provided on oneside of the board only.

The board is divided into sectors.

Words are built orthogonally and additionally, ‘Special Words’ are builton on defined multi-directional ‘Special Pathways’ said ‘Special Words’being: —Swivel’:‘Swerve’:‘Curvy’:‘L’ Word’:‘Zig-Zag’ and ‘Free Flow’each as defined in the detailed description o the game and the rules,and as illustrated in FIG. 1.

A plurality of overlays is provided, these being transparent, colouredtiles or strips which are placed on top of all the tiles that form‘Special Words’.

‘Ploy pieces’ instruct players to initiate a number of actions.

The rules of the game provide a number of different options for both themethod of playing the game and method of scoring the game.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 shows the board as described in the detailed description,however, the lines where the circles overlap would not be visible on themanufactured board.

The board carries a number of built words, some of which are ‘SpecialWords’ these being: —Swivel’:‘Swerve’:‘Curvy’:‘L’ Word’:‘Zig-Zag’ and‘Free Flow’ each as defined in the detailed description of the game andin the rules.

FIG. 1 also demonstrates the ease with which ‘Multi's’ can be common totwo words and can nevertheless be easily read in both. It is noted thatin reality, there is little likelihood of players using so many ‘SpecialPathways’ in such a small area of the board as illustrated; the rulesrecommend that the number of ‘Special Words’ in any one game be limited.

FIG. 1 shows how long words can be formed with a number of tiles that isless than the number of letters in those words.

FIG. 1 does not indicate the brightly coloured clear plastic tiles oroverlays which are used to highlight ‘Special Words’.

FIG. 1 (1) The Swivel ‘word, ‘early,’ has been built by swiveling thefinal ‘e’ in the word ‘profile’.

FIG. 1 (2) The ‘Swerve’ word, ‘tension’ has been built off the ‘t’ in‘oddments’.

FIG. 1 (3) The ‘L’ Word’, ‘product’ has been built off the ‘pro’ of‘profile’. ‘pro’ having been swiveled ninety degrees (90′)

FIG. 1 (4) The ‘Curvy’ Word, ‘everybody’, is built off the ‘e’ of‘profile’.

FIG. 1 (5)) The ‘Zig-zag’ Word, ‘erroneously’, is built off the ‘er’ of‘everybody’.

FIG. 1 (6) The ‘Free-flow’ Word, ‘oddments, is built off the ‘od’ of‘everybody’.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention is a board game for building words with both single-letterand multiple-letter tiles along various multi-directional pathways. Inaddition to words built orthogonally, players may build words backwardsand along defined ‘Special Pathways’ which are strategic tools createdto allow players to plot their moves in order to bypass obstacles, thusreducing the frustration that often occurs in crossword-type games butespecially to facilitate opportunities for reaching high-scoring letterspaces and high-scoring areas on the board. The number of ‘SpecialPathways’ permitted in any one game should be limited.

Words built on ‘Special Pathways’ as shown in FIG. 1 are herein called‘Special words’. There are numerous options available for said pathwayswhich might be rather loosely defined as in the examples hereinprovided, or they might be precisely defined as in the game of Chess.Formation of “Special Words” is made possible by, in combination, theplaying pieces, the grid configuration, and definitions of ‘SpecialPathways’. Templates could be provided.

In addition to their value as strategic tools, the said ‘SpecialPathways’ provide an interesting new element in the area ofword-building games, increase the fun and provide a novel challenge forword game players.

To build a Special ‘Swivel’. Word, a player creates a Special ‘Swivel”Pathway for it by rotating the chosen tile either 90 degrees to the leftor 90 degrees to right, thus changing the orientation of the new word,or, in order to reverse the orientation, the player rotates the tile 180degrees, effectively turning it ‘upside-down.’

NB Any tile may be swiveled as a step in building any word in the game.

A Special ‘Swerve’ Word is built at a tangent, on a diagonal pathwaythat extends from its word of origin which is also called the ‘root’word, this being the word that contains the tile used by the player forbuilding the new word and which itself might lie on a diagonal, saidtile being rotated 60 degrees or 120 degrees thus allowing the new wordto be built off it. or onto it at a tangent to the root word.

To build a Special ‘Curvy’. Word, a player creates a ‘Curved’ SpecialPathway which consists of two sections, one of which ‘swerves’diagonally, that is, at a tangent to the other section.

The ‘Special ‘L’ Word’ is built on a Special Right-Angled Pathway whichconsists of two sections.

The Special i Zig-Zag’ Word is built on a ‘Zigzag’ Special Pathway usinga minimum of six tiles arranged in at least 3 zig-zag sections.

The Special ‘Free Flow’ Word is built on a free-flowing ‘SpecialPathway’ incorporating at least three (3) of any directional changes

In building ‘Special Words’, especially ‘Swerve’ ‘Curvy’, ‘Free-Flow’and ‘Zig-zag’, a problem that frequently arises is that the location ofat least one tile lying adjacent to a tile or tiles in nearby words,makes it difficult to visually isolate words, this difficulty sometimesrendering words illegible to most readers.

For this reason, coloured, transparent tiles are provided as overlays,the purpose of which is to highlight ‘Special Words’; players cover thetiles in ‘Special Words’ with overlays as part of their turn. Theoverlays distinguish these words from surrounding words. In one versionof the game, the overlays are clear, coloured plastic strips of avariety of lengths to cover said ‘Special Words’ which are of variouslengths and shapes as in FIG. 1.

Said overlays are best provided in at least two different colours inorder to further enhance the visual distinctiveness of ‘Special Words.’

The board is double-sided, both sides comprising a grid derived fromhorizontal and vertical rows of circles overlaid with smaller circles asshown in FIG. 1. providing a board which offers more spaces and aconfiguration that suits the forming of ‘Special Words’ on ‘SpecialPathways.’ a selection of which are imbedded in the grid on one sideonly of the board.

The board is divided into sectors to facilitate dismantling of somewords which might become desirable should the board become cluttered andalso to allow players the options of whole board, individual sectors andteam games.

The board might be circular or a polygon shape in order to minimize theobstructiveness of hard ninety (90) degree corners should the board beturned.

Circular or polygonal letter spaces on the board are preferred as arecircular or polygonal shaped playing pieces, because these shapes are,in general, better suited to the forming of “Special Words’.

Colour and graphics are incorporated in the board to provide advicerelated to playing and scoring the game,

To make the game in a different format, the grid could be provided inthe form of a vertical frame instead of on a board.

Each playing piece incorporates at least one letter-bearing portion thatdisplays a single letter or a cluster of letters such as occur in thewritten expression of languages as fragments of words. Each said clusterof letters is referred to as a ‘Multi’ and its tile is referred to as a‘Multi Tile’. ‘Multi’ tiles are either the same size as or preferably nomore than twenty five percent bigger than single-letter tiles.

In the preferred version of the game, a single-letter tile carries thatletter doubled on another surface of the playing piece, so when theplaying piece is a circular disc, the double letter is on the reverseside. e.g. the letter U on one side, with UU as in ‘vacuum’ on itsreverse. Use of the double letters provided is optional.

Letters on ‘Multi’ tiles are not expressed horizontally or verticallyaccording to the protocol of written languages, the protocol for Englishbeing that they are written horizontally from left to right. Instead, inthe game herein described, each ‘Multi’ is expressed obliquely on itstile in a downward diagonal direction at an angle of approximately 45degrees thus any ‘Multi’ fragment to be shared by, that is, to be commonto a horizontal word and a vertical word, both of which can therefore beeasily read.

‘Multi Tiles’ and single-letter tiles can be physically ‘swiveled’, thatis, rotated as a step in making directional changes but this isoptional.

Each ‘Multi’ remains unchanged as an entity, retaining its distinctivespelling and meaning because the letters therein are located on one tilewhich is the same size as or only slightly bigger than single-lettertiles, instead of on a tile equivalent in size to that of its compositeletters on individual single-letter tiles. ‘Multi’ tiles remain visuallydistinctive, the letters of which they are comprised never merging withsingle letters on the board.

The provision of ‘Multi’ tiles. which are the same size as or onlyslightly bigger than single-letter tiles is the key element whichpermits the building of some long words which would not be possible ifplayers were provided with single-letter tiles only.

The educational value of the game is enhanced because the ‘Multi's’,that is, the word fragments, remain visible as separate and distinctentities and do not merge with single-letter tiles as words extend overthe board. This means that students frequently see common clusters ofletters applied to many different words.

‘Multi’ tiles are provided in colour-coded categories denoting levels ofspelling difficulty and frequency of usage in any particular languageversion of the game. The said categories range from such as‘easy/beginners’ to ‘challenging/advanced’, this latter categoryincluding letter combinations such as ‘II’:‘AE’: ‘XYL’:‘BIOS’: ‘PHOS’.Colour coding of ‘Multi’ tiles allows players to select their preferredlevel of difficulty.

Letter-bearing tiles display numbers or symbols denoting values.

There are provided ‘Ploy Pieces” which instruct players to initiatespecific actions which include the building of a ‘Special Word’ and inone version of the game, permission tiles are provided specifically foreach of the six ‘Special Words’ said tiles to be either allocated toplayers at the commencement of play or mixed with the playing pieces soas to make their distribution random.

The multi-dimensional pathways and ‘Ploy Pieces’ have the effect ofincreasing the scope and enhancing the concept of the traditionalcrossword format derived from building.words orthogonally.

There are provided on some tiles a small number of ‘Wild’ portions whichcould be indicated by means of a symbol such as a ‘Smily face’, aquestion mark, a star or some other symbol. A ‘Wild’ piece or tile canbe used in word building to represent any single-letter vowel or singleconsonant tile but does not have an assigned value for scoring andattracts no points. Similarly, it cannot be counted in a scoring systemthat takes into account the number of tiles in a word. e.g. the numberof single-letter tiles in a word.

For a fun game, there is provided a larger than usual number, perhapssix

(6) of both ‘Miss a Turn’ and ‘Have 2 Turns’ pieces while someadditional blank tiles may be provided so players can make upreplacements for lost tiles and add extra their own ‘Multi's’.

This game is suitable for a number of language versions. Additionally,it could encompass such an abundance of spelling and meaning fragmentsand so many ‘Special Pathways’ and ‘Ploy Pieces’ that it could beproduced as a game series or in multiple game packages.

The placement of multiple-letter combinations obliquely or diagonally onplaying pieces could be applied to word building card games; saidplacement could also be applied to other word building games some ofwhich might be played without a board.

Game Rules and Scoring

The game is best suited for 2 players or a maximum of 4

The game and is played on either side of a board both sides of whichbear a grid comprising horizontal and vertical rows of circular spacesoverlaid with smaller circles, and with both sides bearing spaces andareas which attract bonus points but one side of which additionally hasa selection of ‘Special Pathways’ imbedded in its grid.

Players may play a whole-of board game or each player or pair of playersmay choose to build in a sector or sectors of their own choosing.)

The game may be played in ‘rounds’ each round consisting, for instanceof four (4) or six (6) turns per player.

Additionally, an individual may play a ‘Solo’ game, the object beingthat the player beat her/his previous score.)

The object of the game is for one player to win by obtaining the highestscore for building words using the equipment provided and in accordancewith the rules of the game.

Equipment comprises the board: a plurality of colour-coded single-lettertiles which carry the letter doubled on one side: a plurality ofcolour-coded multiple-letter tiles called ‘Multi's’: a plurality ofinstructional pieces called ‘Ploy Pieces’ and a plurality of ‘Wild’ andblank tiles. The vowels, consonants and ‘Multi's’ may be mixed togetherin a central ‘bank’ or housed separately as distinct categories.)

Words are built in three (3) ways, the first being in the standardcrossword format, the second being on ‘Special Pathways’ which aremulti-directional and the third being assembling a word apart from themain body of words by making a ‘Ploy Move’ along a ‘Special Pathway.’

‘Special Words’ in this game are: —‘Swerve’:‘Swivel’:‘Curvy’:‘L’Word’:‘Zig-Zag’ and ‘Free Flow’; they are built on ‘Special Pathways’and can be used strategically in order to bypass obstacles and to reachhigh-scoring letter-spaces and high-scoring areas of the board. It isrecommended that the number of ‘Special Words’ used in any one game bestrictly limited.

‘Swerve’ is built on a ‘Swerved’ or diagonal pathway at an angle of 60degrees or 120 degrees so it is positioned at a tangent to its word oforigin or ‘root word’.

‘Swivel’ is built by swiveling the required letter tile either 90degrees to the left or 90 degrees to right, thus changing itsorientation, or, in order to reverse the orientation, the player rotatesthe tile 180 degrees, effectively turning it ‘upside-down.’

NB Any tile may be swiveled as part of building any word type in thegame.

‘Curvy’ is built on a ‘curved’ pathway consisting of two sections, oneof which ‘swerves’ diagonally, away from its other section

‘L’ Word’ is built in two sections on a right-angled pathway

‘Zig-Zag’ is built on a zigzag pathway utilizing a minimum of six tilesarranged in at least three (3) zig-zag sections.

‘Free Flow’ is built on a free-flowing ‘Special Pathway’ which has nofixed pathway but must travel in at least three (3) of any directions

Actual physical ‘swiveling’ or ‘swerving’ of a tile in the course ofbuilding any word is optional.

There are provided additional pieces called ‘Ploy Pieces’ which carryinstructions for specific actions:—

‘Permit’—Permission to build one ‘Special Word”:

-   -   ‘Pilfer’—for personal use, take one tile out of a word on the        board and replace it with a blank or “Wild”:    -   ‘Pillage’—for personal use, completely dismantle one word on the        board whilst leaving those tiles which are part of other word:    -   ‘Plunder”—removing all the words in one sector of choice,        returning all tiles to their categories or the central kitty:    -   ‘Share the Booty’—remove one word from the board and share its        tiles with one or more other players:    -   ‘Seize’—execute the ‘Ploy Move’, that is, replace a tile in a        word on the board with a ‘Wild’ tile and then move the original        tile out along any one of the ‘Special Pathways’ to build the        new word which is called a ‘Ploy Word’ and is distanced from and        therefore wholly separate from the main body of words on the        board until a player achieves a bonus point for building a word        that links the ‘ploy word’ with the main body of words on the        board.

For a less serious game, all six (6) ‘Wild’ pieces and three (3) each of‘Miss a Turn’ AND ‘Have 2 Turns’ may be mixed through either the centralbank or through the single consonants.

‘Wild’ pieces are to be used in word building to represent anysingle-letter vowel or single consonant tile but attract no points inscoring.

Additionally, there is provided a number of blank tiles which could beused to make up replacements for lost tiles or for players to createtheir own ploys.

Before the commencement of play, players decide what options are to beincluded in the game and to what extent, said options relating to,amongst others, the use of backward words: level/s of difficulty to beplayed: the range of ‘Ploy Pieces’ to be used: the inclusion orexclusion of double-letter tile faces: the choice concerning which sideof the board is to be played, that is the one with or the one withoutthe ‘Special Pathways’: which scoring elements are preferred: the numberof ‘Multi’ tiles to be included and whether or not the use of ‘Multi’tiles is to be restricted to multi-syllabic words.

Players also nominate which of the ‘Special’ Words and Pathways are tobe utilized in additional to the horizontal and vertical. They thennominate the frequency with which they are to be used, for example, one“Special Word” per player per game. These ‘Special Words’ may beallocated to players at the start of play or mixed with the playingpieces so as to make distribution random. Words are built off ‘SpecialWords’ in exactly the same way as they are built off words builtorthogonally. Alternatively, permission to build ‘Special Words’ canalso derive from the ‘Permit’ Ploy Piece.

Following the decision making as outlined above, players select or areallocated the agreed number of tiles from a central bank, the preferrednumber of single vowels and single consonants totaling seven (7) oreight (8). Alternatively, single vowels and single consonants can behoused as discrete categories

Multi’ tiles might be added to a central pool in order to be randomlydistributed or housed as a discrete category or players may each keep a‘library’ of ‘Multi’ tiles, preferably no more than six (6) this lastoption being suitable for more competent players.

The first player arranges his word over a designated starting area onthe board, others then building words including backwards words on allpathways.

The ‘Special Pathways’ allow players to take a diagonal direction bybuilding a ‘Swerve Word’, to change orientation by building a ‘SwivelWord’ and to create words on curved, right-angled L, zigzag andfree-flowing pathways.

Tiles used in ‘Special Words’ should be highlighted immediately by meansof the overlays provided

Following each player's turn, a player replaces those tiles which havebeen used in that turn and if desiring a faster game, is also permittedto exchange any other tiles, the exchanging of any one tile optionallycarrying an agreed penalty such as a forfeit, e.g. “Exchange one tile,discard two tiles.”

As the game progresses, players may dismantle one sector of the board ifthe majority of players are in agreement.

Scores are denoted on each tile by means of a numeral or symbol. In thefirst step of one possible scoring system, players calculate each totalword score, factoring into the calculation any bonus or bonuses derivefrom scoring advice incorporated in the board. Recourse to a dictionaryis advised for the settlement of disputes regarding the correct spellingof word.

In the second step, players multiple the score from Step 1 by the numberof syllables in their words. Recourse to a dictionary is advised for thesettlement of disputes regarding accurate syllabifying of words.

There is a range of elements which could be incorporated in scoring,several options are herein provided.

-   -   1 Values ascribed to playing pieces/tiles, some of which might        be:—        -   values allocated to tiles according to level of difficulty        -   values allocated to tiles according to their frequency of            use in any given language.    -   2 In a word built, the number of some/all/any of the following:—        -   letters e.g. bonus points based on number in a word        -   tiles e.g. bonus for long words with few tiles        -   prefixes/suffixes e.g. bonus points based on number used        -   syllables e.g. multiply word score by number of syllables        -   prefixes/suffixes e.g. bonus points based on number used    -   3 Values ascribed to ‘Special Words’ and ‘Ploy Words’ e.g Triple        Score    -   4 One or a number of elements incorporated in the board.        -   e.g. bonus scores for building on designated letter spaces,            word spaces or other high-scoring boards areas    -   5 Bonus points for building a word which links a ‘Ploy Word’        back        -   to the main body of words.

1. a board game for building words forwards and backwards withsingle-letter playing pieces and multiple-letter playing pieces on andalong a variety of multi-directional pathways
 2. the board of claim 1both sides of which carry a grid comprising horizontal and vertical rowsof circles overlaid with smaller circles.
 3. the multiple-letter playingpieces of claim 1 the letters on which are arranged in a diagonallydownward direction at an angle of approximately 45 degrees.
 4. of themulti-directional pathways of claim 1 there are claimed the ‘curved’,the ‘right-angled’, the ‘zig-zag’ and the ‘free-flow’ pathways asdefined in the rules of the game.
 5. The board game of claim 1 releasedin parts or as a series.
 6. The board game of claim 1 in electronicformat.
 7. The board game of claim 1 provided in different languageversions.
 8. A range of ‘Ploy Pieces’ which instruct players to take onetile from the board for personal use, replacing it with a blank or‘Wild’ tile’: completely dismantle one word on the board and keep thosetiles for personal use: remove all the words in any one sector andreturn the tiles to the central bank or their containers: remove oneword from the board and share the tiles with one or more other players:remove one tile from a word on the board, and move it out along one ofthe pathways to be used in building a word which is distanced from andentirely separate from the main body of words on the board.
 9. Colouredclear plastic overlays which highlight words other than those builtorthogonally